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Steve Alexander

Offseason Beat

Fantasy MVP? How About KD?

Now that the dust has settled after a chaotic and condensed regular season, I thought I’d throw some fantasy awards out there. And with the news that the Beastie Boys’ MCA passed away today, I probably need something else to put my mind on anyway. I first saw the Beastie Boys in March of 1987 in the Louisville Gardens, with Fishbone as the opener. I’m not going to go into details here, but it was on that crazy, first headlining tour they did where they were arrested nightly for various things involving sex, drugs and booze. And I can honestly say I’ve never seen a show quite like it since. If you’ve ever heard rumors about bad things happening on stage at a Beastie Boys show that year, they were all true that night, and it was glorious. R.I.P. Adam Yauch.

Durant gets the nod in scoring, rebounding, blocks, threes and free throw percentage, while LeBron takes assists, steals and field goal percentage. I’d say that Durant’s extra 3-pointers were canceled out by LeBron’s assists, and that this race is basically a dead heat. Until you look at games played.

Durant didn’t miss a game in this condensed season, including down the stretch when he easily could have chilled out and kept his scoring title intact by not risking a 22-point game. LeBron missed one game with a real injury when he sat out against the Hawks way back on Jan. 5 with a sprained left ankle, and then missed three of the Heat’s final four games in the regular season in order to rest for the playoffs. I’m not going to pass judgment on whether it was right or wrong for Bron to rest up on those three nights, but I will say this. There isn’t a single Kevin Durant owner out there who can claim that Durant cost them a championship over the final few days of the season. And the same is simply not true for the owners of LeBron, who had to fill in the gaps with unreliable players like Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green in hopes of barely hanging on without LeBron in the final week of the season. Had they played the same number of games, I would have named LeBron the Fantasy MVP.

On a side note, most of my leagues wrap things up with about 10 days to go in the regular season, chopping off the last full week, as well as the short week at the end of the season. But this year was different. Many of us had the mindset to get as much hoops in as possible, so we played out all 18 weeks. It also didn’t help that most of the managerial websites made playing the whole season the default option, if not the only one. But next year, if you’re running a hoops league, do everyone a favor and make sure it’s in the books by the end of Week 23, and skip the final two scoring periods. They are a mess every year, but I’m pretty sure 2012 takes the cake as far as guys being shut down, sitting out, and not showing up over the last two weeks of the season.

This one was also a tough call. Kyrie Irving put up the big numbers and was a stud until his shoulder injury ruined much of his second half of the season, limiting him to just 51 games. Kawhi Leonard started in 39 games for the Spurs and played well for them all year. But the problem was, he was never really a huge difference maker in fantasy, and chances were you had a better veteran to start each week, meaning Leonard was more of a luxury to own, than a guy who was plugged into your lineup every night. Which leads me to Isaiah Thomas and Klay Thompson.

Thomas wasn’t a reliable fantasy starter until the middle of February, but from then on, he attained must-start status, averaging 14.2 points, 3.0 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.5 3-pointers after the All-Star break, while not missing a single game down the stretch (he missed just one all year). He was also capable of blowing up for a big game on any given night, making him a must-start for those of you lucky enough to get ahold of him off the waiver wire.

It took Thompson a little longer to get going, but he still averaged 17 points. 3.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.0 steals and 2.0 3-pointers after the break. He didn’t miss a single game all season, but given the fact Thomas was the guy more available on waiver wires, was taken with the last pick in the NBA draft, and became a starting NBA point guard on a team that already had Tyreke Evans and Marcus Thornton, I’m giving him the award. But it really is a coin flip.

According to Basketballmonster.com, Anderson was the eighth-most valuable player in nine-category leagues and played in 61 of 66 games. He finished the season averaging 16.1 points, 7.7 rebounds, 0.8 steals and 2.7 3-pointers, while shooting it well from both the field and the free throw line. He was taken in Round 14 in one of my deep expert leagues, went undrafted in Rick Kamla’s League Freak and was taken with the 138th overall pick in my 30-team league. There were plenty of other nice sleepers this season, but Anderson was the clear winner in my mind.

Now that the dust has settled after a chaotic and condensed regular season, I thought I’d throw some fantasy awards out there. And with the news that the Beastie Boys’ MCA passed away today, I probably need something else to put my mind on anyway. I first saw the Beastie Boys in March of 1987 in the Louisville Gardens, with Fishbone as the opener. I’m not going to go into details here, but it was on that crazy, first headlining tour they did where they were arrested nightly for various things involving sex, drugs and booze. And I can honestly say I’ve never seen a show quite like it since. If you’ve ever heard rumors about bad things happening on stage at a Beastie Boys show that year, they were all true that night, and it was glorious. R.I.P. Adam Yauch.

Durant gets the nod in scoring, rebounding, blocks, threes and free throw percentage, while LeBron takes assists, steals and field goal percentage. I’d say that Durant’s extra 3-pointers were canceled out by LeBron’s assists, and that this race is basically a dead heat. Until you look at games played.

Durant didn’t miss a game in this condensed season, including down the stretch when he easily could have chilled out and kept his scoring title intact by not risking a 22-point game. LeBron missed one game with a real injury when he sat out against the Hawks way back on Jan. 5 with a sprained left ankle, and then missed three of the Heat’s final four games in the regular season in order to rest for the playoffs. I’m not going to pass judgment on whether it was right or wrong for Bron to rest up on those three nights, but I will say this. There isn’t a single Kevin Durant owner out there who can claim that Durant cost them a championship over the final few days of the season. And the same is simply not true for the owners of LeBron, who had to fill in the gaps with unreliable players like Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green in hopes of barely hanging on without LeBron in the final week of the season. Had they played the same number of games, I would have named LeBron the Fantasy MVP.

On a side note, most of my leagues wrap things up with about 10 days to go in the regular season, chopping off the last full week, as well as the short week at the end of the season. But this year was different. Many of us had the mindset to get as much hoops in as possible, so we played out all 18 weeks. It also didn’t help that most of the managerial websites made playing the whole season the default option, if not the only one. But next year, if you’re running a hoops league, do everyone a favor and make sure it’s in the books by the end of Week 23, and skip the final two scoring periods. They are a mess every year, but I’m pretty sure 2012 takes the cake as far as guys being shut down, sitting out, and not showing up over the last two weeks of the season.

This one was also a tough call. Kyrie Irving put up the big numbers and was a stud until his shoulder injury ruined much of his second half of the season, limiting him to just 51 games. Kawhi Leonard started in 39 games for the Spurs and played well for them all year. But the problem was, he was never really a huge difference maker in fantasy, and chances were you had a better veteran to start each week, meaning Leonard was more of a luxury to own, than a guy who was plugged into your lineup every night. Which leads me to Isaiah Thomas and Klay Thompson.

Thomas wasn’t a reliable fantasy starter until the middle of February, but from then on, he attained must-start status, averaging 14.2 points, 3.0 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.5 3-pointers after the All-Star break, while not missing a single game down the stretch (he missed just one all year). He was also capable of blowing up for a big game on any given night, making him a must-start for those of you lucky enough to get ahold of him off the waiver wire.

It took Thompson a little longer to get going, but he still averaged 17 points. 3.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.0 steals and 2.0 3-pointers after the break. He didn’t miss a single game all season, but given the fact Thomas was the guy more available on waiver wires, was taken with the last pick in the NBA draft, and became a starting NBA point guard on a team that already had Tyreke Evans and Marcus Thornton, I’m giving him the award. But it really is a coin flip.

According to Basketballmonster.com, Anderson was the eighth-most valuable player in nine-category leagues and played in 61 of 66 games. He finished the season averaging 16.1 points, 7.7 rebounds, 0.8 steals and 2.7 3-pointers, while shooting it well from both the field and the free throw line. He was taken in Round 14 in one of my deep expert leagues, went undrafted in Rick Kamla’s League Freak and was taken with the 138th overall pick in my 30-team league. There were plenty of other nice sleepers this season, but Anderson was the clear winner in my mind.

There were plenty of other busts out there (Derrick Rose, anyone?), but most of those were injury related. To be a true bust, I think the player had to be healthy for most of the season. Carmelo Anthony was nearly healthy enough to qualify, but he missed 11 games and actually came on late to help carry teams to a championship with his strong play down the stretch. In my case, he failed me so miserably during the bulk of the season my team nearly missed the playoffs. And ours started early enough he still wasn’t putting up big enough numbers to get me through the second round.

Amare Stoudemire played in just 47 games, meaning he missed 19 of them, which is enough to qualify him as injured this season. Melo and Amare were both serious bust candidates, but just missed too many games to take the title.

Wright, on the other hand, missed just five games this season and started in every one of them. He started to turn it on down the stretch, but then sat out the final four games with a mysterious ankle injury, the first of which was a surprise DNP. He went from averaging 16.4 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.5 steals, 0.8 blocks and 2.4 3-pointers last season, to just 10.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.0 steals, 0.4 blocks and 1.7 3-pointers this year, and saw his minutes drop from 38 per game down to 27. Maybe it’s Mark Jackson’s fault, but Wright was taken with the 40th pick (Round 2) of my 30-team league, Round 6 in a deep expert league and Round 4 in League Freak. He still managed to finish with sixth-round value in many leagues, because he hit 3-pointers and didn’t really hurt owners anywhere, but the 10 ppg and the fact owners were hoping for much better output, as he was a strong sleeper pick, spelled fantasy disaster for many of you.

Maybe Darren Collison or Raymond Felton would have been a better choice over Wright, but owners who drafted him were counting on him being an everyday fantasy starter, and he ended up being dropped in many leagues, especially when he tanked in February and March, averaging less than 10 points and two 3-pointers per game in 31 starts.

I was not a fan of how Brooks used Serge Ibaka this year, as the big man played just 27 minutes per night for the second straight season. But the Thunder played the exact same lineup and rotation every night, and helped Durant, Russell Westbrook and Ibaka to all finish with first-round fantasy value, while none of them missed a single game.

Drew also stuck with the guys fantasy owners wanted to play, and made a remarkable run considering that Al Horford was lost for the season right off the bat. Josh Smith, Joe Johnson and Jeff Teague all finished with solid fantasy value and you could count on them being on the floor and producing every night. Yes, Teague was up and down all year, but it wasn’t his coach’s fault. But some of the credit for Smith’s monster year certainly lies with Drew.

Worst Fantasy Coach of the Year

Gregg Popovich Spurs & Kevin McHale Rockets

Popovich would have gotten my vote (if I had one) for coach of the year this season. He rested his studs nightly, did a great job of incorporating young guys into the mix (and starting lineup), and made sure everyone was healthy and rolling when the playoffs came around. But from a fantasy perspective, things were just a mess. You never knew who was going to play or start, and having nine guys play 20 minutes is a recipe for fantasy disaster. But there’s a pretty decent chance the Spurs could win it all this season, which is why Popovich is a genius, and his disdain for fantasy hoops makes sense.

Steve "Dr. A" Alexander is the senior editor for the NBA for Rotoworld.com and a contributor to NBCSports.com. The 2016-17 NBA season marks (at least) his 15th year of covering fantasy hoops for Rotoworld. Follow him on Twitter - @Docktora.Email :Steve Alexander